Man arrested after rush-hour police chase

Police have arrested a driver shown on live TV leading them on a high-speed chase through the Heights and ending near the Austin County line, reports say.

KHOU identified the suspect as Hector Torres. The station reports that he told a KHOU reporter that he tried to flee because he was drunk.

According to KTRK, a man driving a white Chevrolet Suburban was initially being pulled over for speeding in the T.C. Jester area near 11th Street when he took off.

The chase reportedly began around 4:25 p.m., through the Heights, onto the North Loop westbound toward U.S. 290, narrowly missing vehicles along the way.

The suspect then took the West Loop South and exited onto the westbound lanes of Interstate 10, where at one point he reached speeds of at least 100 miles per hour on the left shoulder of the highway.

Officers tried using their spike strips at several locations, but the driver managed to avoid them despite the rush-hour traffic. At one point an 18-wheeler on I-10 attempted to stop the vehicle, but was unsuccessful, according to KHOU.

KTRK reports:

Traffic started bottlenecking as the suspect approached the Highway 6 exit, but the suspect began navigating around the cars.

Officers tried to lay out tire spikes shortly before the Barker Cypress exit but the suspect managed to avoid them.

As the chase moved toward Waller County, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers became involved.

A DPS trooper was able to blow out one of the Suburban’s tires around 5:15 p.m., just east of the Brazos River where the driver exited the vehicle peacefully and surrendered immediately, says KHOU.

There were no reported injuries, but the suspect reportedly scraped the sides of several vehicles.

Meanwhile, Harris County deputies detained a man accused of interfering with the chase by attempting to take photos, KHOU says.